


Cheating Death

by rosemusiclive



Series: Magic for the Damned [2]
Category: Hat Films - Fandom, The Yogscast
Genre: Blood, Drowning, F/M, Hallucinations, Knives, Urban Magic Yogs, Vague reference to self harm, umy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-03
Updated: 2015-02-03
Packaged: 2018-03-10 06:20:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3279947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosemusiclive/pseuds/rosemusiclive
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nano takes a bath. There's something in the water, and it wants to play.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cheating Death

Nano could feel it, pulsing against her skin like an angry shout. She lay in the bath, a rag doll in her relaxation. Tanned hands gripped the white, fibreglass bathtub, holding on for dear life as she dipped her head into the gloom. 

There was something in the water.

Filthy water covered her ears, turning sound waves into confused bass. She let it cover her skin, invading her pores as she willed herself deeper. Her purple hair danced in the lukewarm waters, obscuring her vision and sticking to her dry arms.

Mouth and nose under, she glared at the dank ceiling. The dim light of the room set everything in a greyscale, the atmosphere of a murder scene. It was bare, only the bath and a small music box in the opposite corner of the room, playing a dainty tune. A towel hung on the door for when she got out. The single lightbulb flickered slightly, Nano dared it to go out.

The water screamed at her skin. Nano bared her teeth in return.

Slowly, it trickled in. Pushed through her teeth, up into her nose, bypassed her eardrums and slipped into her brain. It’s silky claws ran over her skin, picking and cutting where they may. Her bare legs tensed and her body went ridged.

The water sensed her fear.

It giggled.

Nano hissed and clenched her fists. With no air, her breathing had become rapid, lungs protesting at her own stubbornness. She inhaled the filth, allowing it into her chest. It seeped into her bloodstream, spreading to her kidneys, her stomach, her liver, her nerves, her muscles, her heart.

Keeping her eyes wide open, Nano submerged herself. Her body screamed at her, cried out at her stupidity. Nano pushed it away, taunting the water, playing with it. She could faintly hear the music box. Muffled, but playing that same old tune.

The water grinned gleefully. It didn’t get a playmate often.

Death wasn’t complicated. Playing the game was the fun part.

There are no winners when you play with death. It's not a fair game. You can try and cheat, but cheaters never prosper.

Cheating death is a game only winners lose.

Howling and rushing, the water bubbled around her, becoming impatient. It prodded her, punched her, shoved her, left bruises on her legs and scars on her wrists. It pushed at her spine and twisted her ankle. Playing with her naked body as if it were roadkill, the water a malicious child.

Nano didn’t let go of the bathtub.

Eventually, it relented. Sulking back into it’s own oblivion. Nano opened her mouth and laughed, swallowing as much of the dirty bathwater as she could. Giving a shout of victory, she sat up, blinking and pushing the hair out of her face.

The room tilted for a second, Nano's vision blurred by the dirt in her eyes. She blinked again and it righted itself. Nano smiled at the familiar mould on the wall. Sighing, she relaxed her body and leant her head against the tub. She closed her eyes.

Silence overtook the room, blanketing the sound of her breathing like a chloroformed rag.

Nano frowned, and opened her eyes.

The music box had stopped playing.

Suddenly, Nano's head pulsed. She let go of the tub and grabbed her temples, her vision swirling. Something squeezed at her lungs and she coughed violently, bathwater erupting from her mouth. Panting and swaying, Nano felt something grab her by the neck and yank her under. 

The water held her in a chokehold with her own hands. Nano couldn’t stop herself as she reached down and raked her fingernails over the skin of her abdomen, cutting herself lightly. Completely out of control, her own hand grabbed the left side of her head, nails cutting small lines into her forehead and eyelid. Nano screamed out as she mutilated her own face. 

The water growled. It was done playing.

Nobody wins when you cheat death.

Reaching out with Nano's hands, the water grabbed her by the hair and slammed her head into the side of the tub. Smacking against her temple with a dull ‘thud’, the tub echoed and shook. Nano blinked with her good eye, the blow rippling through her skull. This time by the neck, the water again shoved her head into the tub. The second blow sent shockwaves through her brain and her vision spiralling into blackness.

With Nano unconscious, the water grinned and pushed it’s way past her lips, into her body.

The single lightbulb flickered, and died.

Nano's mind throbbed with noise. The tinkling of the music box had been replaced with a harsh bassy metronome, like a metal rod being repeatedly struck to the sound of her heartbeat. Nano staggered, now standing in a thick sludge. She gasped, breathing in heavy air.

Blinking until she could see again, Nano found herself in a small room. Bare walls of peeling plaster and no clear light source, there was nothing but a single, wooden door, upon which a towel hung. The floor was coated in a thick tar, sticking to her and slowing her movement.

From somewhere just beyond the door, the bass metronome spiked loudly, suddenly becoming impossibly loud. Beneath her, the tar responded. It seemed to hear the call of the metronome and started moving. 

The tar shivered, quaking and trembling in fear. With a hive mind, it accumulated opposite Nano, forming a figure completely coal coloured and dripping. The figure had a male build, muscular and tall. It was completely naked, but Nano recognised the tail and horns. The figure shuddered, and opened one eye.

There was no mistaking that ice stare.

Ross stood opposite her, his blue glass replaced with black tar. 

Dripping with sticky goop, Ross raised placed a hand on her shoulder. Nano shuddered as she felt the sap trickle down her arm and back. Ross caught her eye, holding her gaze as his other hand reshaped itself to reveal a silver dagger. Nano was unable to look away from his pitiful eyes as she felt the steel pierce her naked stomach.

Giving out a soft whimper, Nano felt Ross slowly remove the blade. Her hands moved to cover her stomach, and Nano squeezed her eyes shut at the feeling of warm blood. Ross snaked his other hand onto her back and pulled her in for a hug. Tears escaping her eyelids, Nano didn’t resist and leant into his arms. The tar hungrily covered her skin, wrapping itself around her back and crawling up her face. It pushed into her eyes and mouth, taking all of Nano until all she had left was oblivion.

The tar quivered in glee as Nano sighed out a final breath.

Unconsciousness plagued her once more, pushing and pulling on her life string like a fickle child. Abruptly, it snapped, and she opened her eyes to find herself on her back in a dark alley. There was no colour, only the faint stars shining down on her with a soft glow. The cold captured her breath, stealing it away in short puffs as if it was sacred. Nano blinked again and rolled onto her side.

Lalna's face stared back at her. Cold and lifeless. His skin had lost all colour, and his hair and eyes were a pale grey. Nano gasped and sat up, the scene before her delivering a sharp blow to her chest. She let out a low wail as she saw his naked body, knife wound clear in his stomach. Nano gagged at the sight of the blood, it was everywhere. The rest of the world might have been monochrome, but Lalna's blood was a shameless bright crimson.

Reaching over, she shook him by the shoulders. Hoping naively that he still had some life in him. There was none. His skin was cool to the touch, his eyes glazed over and blank. Nano cried out, hit with a sudden kick to the stomach as she noticed his forehead.

Scribbled messily into his skin with the murder blade, blood patching the wounds with a rosy tint, a simple warning.

‘CHEATER’.

Howling into the night, Nano felt some part of her die. Letting sobs flow freely, Nano leaned forward and buried her head into the corpses chest, tears staining his shirt. She shuddered and cried out as Lalna's blood pooled around her, pushing into her skin and ripping a hole inside her. Filling her up and leaving her nothing. 

Lapping at her heels, the blood eagerly took what it wanted. It took pieces from her mind, her memory, her heart, leaving behind nothing but the faint feeling of knowing you’re missing something but not quite being able to remember what it was. 

Alone in the alleyway, the blood took what it wanted from Nano, leaving her a barren wasteland with nothing but a corpse for company. Slowly, every piece of Nano was removed, until the colour left her eyes and she joined Lalna in the otherworld.

Frothing and leaping, the blood collected it’s payment and scurried into the shadows.

The darkness was almost welcoming for Nano, a familiar friend. She was ready, ready to go. It was her time, she'd paid her due, made her leave, come to terms with her sins. The tar swirled at her feet. The blood stained her skin. The water giggled, closing off her windpipe and muffling her ears.

In the distance, Nano heard a music box.

Gasping violently for breath, Nanp sat up in the bathtub. The water lapped around her as she panted heavily, gripping the sides in panic. Nano blinked as she got her bearings. The music box was playing in the corner, the single lightbulb flickered above her, the water swayed lifeless in the tub.

Shaking and breathing heavily, Nano got out of the bath and grabbed the towel from the door. She wrapped herself in the fabric and paused, listening out for anything. 

The music box played quietly in the corner.

Nano approached the bath again, cautiously leaning over it. Sensing no magic, she reached in and pulled out the plug, listening to the water escape down the drain. Sighing, Nano left the room, turning off the light as she went. She shut the door behind her.

The music box came to a shuddering halt, it’s high tones droning out into silence.

Shielded by the shadows of the dark, the water giggled, and trickled down the plughole.

Cheating death was a game only losers win.


End file.
